“It is the music that bonds us, not the politics” – an interview with Ousmane Ag Mossa

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– Utrecht. On the 31st of January the Sahara Soul ‘caravan’ with Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba and Tamikrest (without Sidi Touré) ended up at the world music venue Rasa in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Before the press conference with Bassekou Kouyaté started, we spoke to Ousmane Ag Mossa of the Tuareg group Tamikrest. The Sahara Soul project stands for solidarity and unity of Mali. Bassekou is a great proponent of this, but Ousmane explains to us that the situation is much more complicated.

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Kombo Kolombia assaulted

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The drug-related violence is mostly concentrated in the northern part of Mexico, spreading out to the rest of the country (BBC News), and can be shockingly extreme. One of the latest excesses is the assault on the Mexican band Kombo Kolombia.  The band played a private show in a bar in Hidalgo, in the area known as Potrero Chico, and reported missing since then.

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Muslim Brotherhood ridiculed in belly dance video

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The art of belly dance has always been controversial in Egypt. As long as the body is covered it is not obstructed, but the dance is hardly shown on public television and more or less in decline (Gulf News). This doesn’t mean that this traditional oriental dance is completely out of sight. It has even become a tool of protest! The actress, singer and belly dancer Sama al-Masri uploaded some satirical songs while dancing seductively. She is not pro-revolutionary as she voted for Ahmed Shafiq, but she is not a fan of the Muslim Brotherhood either. 

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Rappers comment on the Delhi rape

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The 23-year old Indian girl, who was  gang-raped in New Delhi, died last night in the hospital of Singapore. This horrible incident is making a harsh reality of India visible. In the rankings of TrustLaw, a news service run by Thomson Reuters, India turns out to be the worst country for a woman to live in (BBC News). In New Delhi there have been protests and the whole world has become a witness. It is very important to keep the subject on top of the agenda. A very welcome contribution to this is the voice of a young rapper from Kashmir.

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Gangnam Style and politics

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The K-pop song “Gangnam Style” rocketed straight to the top of the charts in more than 30 countries.  The video on YouTube has been viewed almost 600 million times. Korean rapper, dancer, and producer Psy (Park Jae-sang) shows us a caricature of the life of Gangnam district, the Beverly Hills of Seoul.  The catchy phrases “oppa Gangnam style” and “hey sexy lady”, the electronic dance beat, and the silly galloping moves are the main ingredients for this huge success.  There is a vast amount of parodies of the video, and of Gangnam Style in particular. Not only the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei uses this song to make political comments, but also persons like Ban Ki-moon, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Noam Chomsky are involved in one way or another.

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